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1964 Triangle 32′

Ship’s Log:

The History of our Sailing Vessel “Habi Hoba” is pretty interesting. I had to do some extensive research on the designer ‘Charles Angle’ and boat-builder ‘William Tripp, so that we could get our vessel documented through the United States Coast Guard (USCG).

There is very little information online about the Triangle 32’. In order to get the documentation, I had to find out where she was built and where the keel was laid. Apparently it’s not easy to get a foreign vessel documented in the US. It’s not that it’s impossible, but you get put on the long list. I would also have to provide specs; an actual elevation schematic blueprint from the builder, which is what put me on the quest in the first place… Now, if the vessel was built outside the US, but the keel was laid in the states, there would be no problem.

I discovered that William Tripp Sr. and Charles Angle went into business together in the mid 60’s and later the molds were sold to Mr. Tripp who went on to build the Grampian 34′ sloop design and masthead Ketch with the same cabin layout. Grampian LTD is still in business today in NY.

I called and talked with Bill Tripp Jr. It seemed as though I had more information about the early history of his father’s and the designer’s business relations than he himself knew. He was very interested in the history of his father’s company and we talked for some time. I did find out that our vessel was built in Ontario Canada and the keel was laid in Rochester NY. At some point, she sailed with a yacht/racing club out of Chicago and there is still a sticker in the cabin portal. Then sometime before 1997, she was shipped across the country to the Puget Sound. I learned that there were only 13 of the Triangle 32′ Ketch produced and later there were 30 do-it-yourself kits distributed. Only a few of those ever made it out of the garage. There is online evidence of 12 Triangle 32’s, only 4 of which are still on the water… There are two on the east coast, one in Canada and we have the only one on the west coast.

In my research, through the USCG database, I found out that our vessel had been documented before, in 1997 to a man named “John Massy” I also found a strap tag on the mizzen mast with that name inscribed. When I called USCG National Vessel Documentation Center, I told them exactly what I was going to use the vessel for and they were most helpful with information about which forms to fill out, all about the ‘coastwise endorsement, (that I would definitely need to charter our sailboat for commercial use.) and that it was a fairly easy process to have a once documented vessel re-instated. Thank you “John Massy” for doing all the footwork for me. I’m sure I would have had a difficult time proving where the keel was laid, knowing how rare this sailboat really is.

After we purchased “The Vessel with No Name,” we began to restore her and that project is ongoing. I have added a link to my public FaceBook photo album of the project “Restoration Begins”.

We have plans to make our ship seaworthy, self-sustainable and ready for open ocean by late summer 2016.